PMD: Wintergale
by Airenee
Summary: One-shot. Winter brings about many things but it also has the power to take away other things. A short side-story to Malc Modnar's PMD: Outlaw. This centers Ayrie's past and how it fueled her desire to start a Pokémon Rescue Team. A few cameos of her partner and a sneak peak of their role in the main story line. Slightly tragic but not really. Cover Art is made by me.


_**Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Wintergale**_

 _ **(A side-story to PMD: Outlaw by Malc Modnar)**_

* * *

 _DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own_ Pokémon

* * *

 _Winter brings snow._

 _Snow brings the cold._

 _The cold… takes away everything else._

It was many moons ago when I first came to this mountain. My family; my parents and I were merely trying to make our way through the pass, but a blizzard appeared out of nowhere and caught us by surprise. Slush built below our paws as snow buffeted from above .We tried to find shelter but the gales were too strong and the never ending fall of snow left us blind.

I was just an eevee cub at the time, too small to even walk through the thick layers of snow on my own. My mother carried me while my father led upfront, trying to shield us from the harsh winds as much as he possibly could.

I barely remember his brown form before my eyes as he trudged further into the gray abyss. My mother, with her silvery white fur, mirroring the color of the cascading white rain, followed close behind with me hanging by the scruff of my neck.

I don't remember how long we traveled or if ever we were going the right way. But I guess, we did go the wrong way. The ground beneath us gave way with a horrific crashing noise. My parents yelled as I felt my mom's grip vanish. A flurry of ice and snow filled my vision as I fell further and further down with no sign of my mother or my father.

Time passed. I didn't know how long but I felt like it did.

I stirred awake, the cold wind nipping my nose. Dizzily, I fluttered my eyes open and found myself alone. Snow was piling on top of me as I shivered from the harsh weather. I thought for a moment that I was going to die there alone in the snow. But my mom found me. Her silhouette appeared to me like a spirit or an angel. It felt like the latter. She freed me from the slush that was pinning me down and carried me off once more. Ahead, I saw father waiting for us. I called out to him and he smiled at me.

Everyone was alright, or so I thought.

We only walked for a few feet before my mother stumbled and I was flung from her grasp. Desperately, I pawed my way out of the slush and rushed to her side as quickly as I could. Father was already pulling her aside to a cluster of tall rocks that looked like massive claws sticking out of the snow. It was scary but it helped shield us from the unforgiving blizzard.

Mother leaned against the rock formation while father loomed over her. I forced my way through the insufferable thick slush, my head barely breaking through the surface. Father had to come to my aide and pull me from the sheer mass of snow. He lowered me right beside mother and I immediately came up and snuggled against her, burying myself in her snow-white fur and wallowing in the warmth. Father settled down beside us, adding another blanket of fur for me and my mom. I felt him nuzzle my cheek followed by mom's gentle caress on the opposite side. Contented that I was safe, I nestled in between them and soon sleep overcame me.

When I woke up, the winds were still howling in my ears. I shifted out from in between my parents and took a short peek at my surroundings. Looking up, frowned at the dark sky that continued to pour down heavy piles of white rain. The blizzard had not let up, much to our misfortune.

Wondering how long we were going to stay like that, I nudged my father awake to ask but he didn't respond. Again and again, I head butted his side and pulled on his ear but he didn't open his eyes. Panic settled in and I turned to my mother and desperately tried to awaken her from the cold slumber. But like my father, my mother didn't respond either.

It wasn't possible…

Alone. I was alone. Icy tears ran down my face as I trembled from grief, despair and the growing cold. I had no one left, nothing else to live for. Lying down between my unmoving parents, I closed my eyes and waited for death to come.

But death didn't come.

Instead, a white snow giant came. I only caught a glimpse of its silhouette in the snowy void before I closed my eyes once more, thinking that it was my imagination.

The second time I came around, I found myself in a cave with beautiful ice crystals embedded in the rocky dome-like walls. It was incredible, not to mention a lot warmer, much to my relief.

Standing up, I caught a glimpse of a pile of what looked like snowballs but they smelled funny. Curiously, I walked over and inspected them more closely. They weren't yellow so I guess they were safe. I gave one a lick and a sweet flavor immediately tingled my senses. Without another thought, I ate the round white berries up to the last piece.

Afterwards, I heard heavy footsteps and soon found myself in the presence of the huge snow creature, huge being an understatement. I gulped and backed away against the icy wall, hoping to get much distance away from it. The giant started down at me with terrifying eyes before bending down and placing another pile of white berries on the ground.

My ears perked in mild surprise as understanding began to dawn. The snow giant gave me shelter from the storm and was giving me food. It meant it was trying to fatten me up before it would devour me. I paled at the thought and scampered behind a cluster of bluish gray stalagmites.

The creature, which I later recognized as an abomasnow from the urban stories of the mountains stood up and explained to me that he meant me no harm and that it was the one who rescued me from the blizzard. Hesitantly, I peered out of my hiding place and took another gander at the huge pokemon. He still had that menacing look but I figured pokemon like him were simply like that.

Mustering my courage, I slid out from my hiding place and faced the abomasnow while quivering like a leaf. My mouth opened and closed but no words came out. I mentally scolded myself, saying that my parents taught me proper manners. My world shattered at those words. My parents.

I was so lost in my moment of despair that I failed to notice the abomasnow approach and place a massive green hand on my head. I snapped back into reality and met his gaze. In an old wise voice, he told me that my parents were gone and that I should continue to live for their sake. It was confirmed. My parents were dead.

While the morbid event began to sink in, the abomasnow brushed his hand away and stomped towards the mouth of the cave where he first came in. Unconsciously, I trailed after him and saw that the raging blizzard had not ceased. I grit my teeth at the sight and thought how because of the freak snowstorm, I lost everything.

Furious, I ran outside and yelled at the sky, taunting it to take my life as well. Cold tears pricked the corner of my eyes as the wind brushed against my fur. It was then I realized that I didn't feel cold at all and that the pouring white rain was not hurting me at the slightest, more like the opposite.

The abomasnow came up and gestured me back to the cave. I complied and ran inside. He led me back to the chamber where I woke up and pointed to a spiky crystal rock made entirely out of ice. I didn't really pay attention to it when I woke up but at that moment, I felt really drawn to it.

Approaching the ice rock, I looked at the crystal-like surface and gazed at my creature that was looking straight at me. It had light blue fur, rhombus-shaped ears, almond blue eyes and a tuft of teal fur on its forehead with some dangly extensions. I blinked and the image before me did the same. I gaped and it copied me.

The abomasnow then explained to me that in order to save my life from the cold, I had to adapt. And adapting was something eevees were good at. Be it underwater, in the forest, in a volcano, our kind could change and conquer our surroundings to suit our needs. To put it plainly, I had to evolve into an eevee that could survive in snow. A glaceon.

* * *

Years have past since then.

I stood in front of a familiar rock formation where two graves have been erected at the base of the claws. Thin layers of frost and slush blanketed the surface of the markers. Brushing them clean with my tail, I stepped back and took a gander at my work. A quiet moment passed by. I looked down and smiled at my parents as my dangly extensions fluttered in the cold breeze.

"Good morning, mother… father."

"Heeeey, Ayrie! What's the holdup!?" A purple bat fluttered in the white horizon.

"Give me a minute!" I yelled back at the annoying noibat before I turned to the graves and bid farewell to my parents. "I'm heading out now."

With a spring in my step, I leaped into the white snowy field, fearlessly and effortlessly making my way through the slush and running up to the purple bat who was now perching on a rock and adjusting his ebony hood which mirrored my own white one. Each was custom-made for us in order to accommodate our ears, especially the Noibat's since they were a vital part of his anatomy.

"Geeeez! Hurry up would you? I'm freezing here!"

"You should've thought of that before you volunteered to be my partner, Nali," I shot back at the pokemon who had a times four weakness to ice. "You could have joined any other Rescue/Explorer team but noooooo… You just had to be all sappy and clingy after I rescued you."

"Don't blame me if I wanted to return the favor!" Nali fumed like a child with a tantrum. He then huffed and pouted in my direction using his golden baby-doll eyes look. "Besides, you're on your own out here, saving pokemon who get lost in the mountain. It's an admirable cause and I want to help you with that."

"But you're the one needing rescue more than the pokemon that come here." I rolled my eyes and walked onward.

"Then, why don't we take a vacation? It _is_ spring," Nali suggested as he took flight and flew overhead of me. "Not many pokemon need help around this time. I hear the monastery is looking for patrol teams. We can give that a shot."

After a period of consideration, I shrugged my shoulders. "Sure. Wynaut?"

"Yay! Team Wintergale is heading out!"

* * *

 **THE END**

 **This is my one-shot of Team Wintergale, featuring Ayrie and Nali.  
Characters that were created to have absolutely ZERO reference to Aire/Airenee nor her pet bird, Ali.**

 **This was just a random story. Hope you enjoyed! The Cover Art is done by me. :)  
ht$tp:/$/fav.$me/d90yx5v (for better view. Erase the $)  
**

 **Check out Malc Modnar's story PMD: Outlaw (Covert art is done by me too. He created Ayrie and Nali as thanks)  
Yeeeeahhh... Totally zero reference. :P**

 **Read and Review! Please and Thank you!  
I might make Nali's story next if this went well. :)**


End file.
